The Griffin
by Summonee
Summary: The Arisen is given a task to slay a Griffin troubling Gran Soren.


The Arisen left the safety of Gran Soren to meet up with a group of 'elites' to kill a Griffin. It was surprisingly cold for this time of year, so he drew his characteristic faded orange cloak around his shoulders.

"We should make haste and meet with the group of elites." His Main Pawn, Bailey, suggested. The Arisen nodded. As they walked down the ramp that lead to the gates of Gran Soren, he saw a small group of 'elites'. They seemed to be a ragtag group of soldiers bought together. The Arisen picked out the one who seemed to be the captain

"Are you…" He asked

"I thought you would be our escort." The Captain, Ser Georg, said, looking the Arisen up and down "Yes, we are the group of 'elites'. A jest, I know." The captain looked at the ground, perhaps in shame, perhaps for another reason, but the Arisen did not care, he cared about the griffon. "Our plan," the captain continued "is to circle the Capital until we force the beast to land." The Arisen raised an eyebrow "It is not much of a stratagem, I know," The captain said, noticing the movement "but it will work. If you are still willing to fight with us, then we are on our way."

The Captain gave the order and the 'elites' moved. The Arisen looked among the knights, who seemed to elite to some extent, but that was only in their weapons. They seemed to have poor training and hardly any order to their movements, but that did not mind him much, he had his three Pawns; Bailey, Arkus and Haruko. He quickly took the lead of the 'elites' along with the Captain. Every so often they would come along a few goblins as they walked up the steep incline, but the Arisen quickly dispatched them with his Magick bow. As they neared a passage at the end of the hill the Captain neared over and whispered to the Arisen

"You do not talk much, it is bad for morale." The Arisen furrowed his brow and said only one word:

"Elaborate."

The Captain sighed "See, just like that. You only used a single word in that sentence." He then told the 'elites' to rest, before he lead the Arisen to a small alcove where they could talk, with his Pawns following vigilantly. "You see," he began "These boys look up to you, you are a hero among men, so act like one and not some cold adventurer. At least for the duration of this mission."

"What do you expect? I have no heart." The Arisen retorted.

"Please, Arisen, just for this mission."

The Arisen thought for a moment, before a nodding. He stepped out of the alcove and gave a speech to the knights. "Men, you may not be the elites I was promised, but you will walk into Gran Soren as one. We will slay the Griffon today and tonight you will sleep knowing you have slain a legendary beast. Now, we can assume the griffon eats something, like those." He pointed to a pile of goblin corpses the knights had amassed. "My plan is to build them up in a pile in a clearing through that passageway." He pointed to his right to passage which lead to a clearing. He then gave the order to move, which they followed vigilantly, each picking up a corpse from the pre build pile, moving to the clearing and placing it there. The men then moved out in small groups to find more goblins.

"Thank you, Arisen." The Captain said, watching his men move with vigor, finding goblins and slaying them, before bringing them back to the pile. "

'Tis fine. Now if you will excuse me," he said, drawing his twin daggers, "I must find more for the pile."

They hunted from mid-morning to early afternoon, when both the Captain and the Arisen had deemed they had enough to lure the Griffon in. And then they waited. Which was a laborious task. A fair amount of the knights truly questioned whether the Griffon would show up. The Arisen had chosen a spot for both Haruko and Arkus, in the lee of a large rock and one for him and Bailey, hiding against another rock with a small bush providing cover. Eventually, after an hour, Bailey instead of telling something, as he usually did, he asked something .

"Master."

"Yes Bailey?" The Arisen asked, who was drawing a Magick arrow from his bow, the Gimble Gyre.

"Can you guarantee all these men will survive?" The Arisen stopped drawing the arrow and turned to his Main Pawn. His expression was as blank as the first day they met, three months ago at the Encampment near Cassardis, after he had slain his first Ogre. He had left with only a bow, rusted daggers, a set of clothes and light vest of armor. And with only that he had slain an Ogre. He stared for a second before answering.

"No, I don't Bailey." He whispered, for while where they hid was secluded from the other guards, the last thing he needed was for a few guards to overhear them. "I don't think everyone will survive. I don't even guarantee _I_ will survive. But I have to hope that, like the Captain said, I can keep morale up." Bailey merely stared and nodded

"'Tis noble of you, Arisen."

"Perhaps, or maybe I am just cruel."

"Whatever it is Master, this pawn will follow you to the end." The Arisen smiled, before he drew an arrow and fired it straight up, exploding in a magical burst, showering a fireworks show over the afternoon sky. It was quite magical, he heard a few oohs and ahs from the 'elites'.

"Arisen, what was that?" The captain asked.

"A show, Captain. I thought your boys might like it."

"Do another!" He heard a knight say. The Arisen shrugged and readied another bolt. It flew in the air and exploded. Then a bird-like screech broke out. The sleepy haze that had fallen over the 'elites' due to boredom was gone, replaced with tenseness for the battle ahead. The sun was setting, everyone was tired and wanted to go home, but they needed to slay the Griffin first.

"The Griffin is coming." One knight said "I can feel it in my bones."

"Really, what was it that that helped, the screech like a hawk, or the large shape on the horizon." Another knight said, pointing to the peak of the nearby mountains, where the Griffin swooped over and began changing its course for the pile.

"Don't group up, stay spread out so it cannot get all of us." The Captain ordered as everyone moved from their cover. Each knight acknowledged as the shape on the horizon grew larger. The Arisen channeled magic into his bow, pulling out an arrow of pure light and aiming it at the sky. He heard a heavy noise as Bailey hefted his massive sword. The Griffin was close now. Every knight made last minute adjustments to how they stood as the Griffin came closer and closer. As it neared the ground to pluck out the goblins, the Arisen saw that it had some form of lighting coming from its wings. So the Griffin has magic, he thought as he dived out of the way from the Griffins swoop. It landed onto the pile and began gobbling down the pile of corpses, uncaring to the humans around it.

"Attack!" The captain ordered. The Men came in from all directions, with swords and arrows, desperately trying to bring the beast down. The Griffin rose its bloody head to look at the things attacking it. It plucked at one of the knights ankles and swung it around. He screamed in pain, until nine golden arrows rained down from the sky and forced the Griffin to release the wounded knight. The knight landed on his back with a thud, still crying in pain. He felt someone strong pick him up, and opened his eyes to see the giant Pawn Haruko lifting him away to a safer location.

"Arkus!" The Arisen yelled as he aimed another shot from his Magick bow "Heal that soldier!" The Pawn, obedient to his master, walked over to where Haruko was guarding the poor knight. He began preparing High Anodyne.

Bailey managed to deflect the beak of the Griffin before he drove its sword into its chest. The beast screeched like a hawk before it took to the air. It flew away from the cliff, towards the city, its normally white feathers red with its own blood.

"Is it fleeing?" One young knight asked.

"I shall not be chasing after it!" One gruff knight mumbled

"You might not have a choice!" The Captain yelled.

Fortunately for the knights, it came back. The electricity was charging in its wings, more violently, coming in for its final attack. Every knight prepared their swords, archers prepared their bows, for the next wave.

"Arkus." The Arisen said, motioning Arkus to come over.

"Yes, Master?" Arkus asked.

"What are Griffins weak to?"

"Fire."

The Arisen pointed to the Griffin, the gap nearly closed now. The Pawn, understanding his order, prepared a spell. The Arisen placed his bow awkwardly against a rock, reached for the brooch that held his cloak together and removed it, the orange falling from him to reveal the everything he wore was black, his armor, his boots even his gloves were all black. Even the black sash around his waist, which caught the captains eye. Unlike everything else the arisen wore, which was kept in immaculate condition, the sash was old, faded and showed signs of repair. It seemed odd that he would wear something so old, with all the new gear he could buy with the wealth he had accumulated over his three months as the Arisen. Perhaps it was a momento of home for the Arisen. The Arisen bent his legs, crossed his arms and a small ball of fire appeared before him. As he did this, the Captain saw the ends of the sash were burnt.

The Griffin was mere meters away, the men could hear its wings beat. The electricity was clear in its wings, and it gave a mighty screech. Suddenly, the Cliff exploded in a wall of flames, the Griffin was coming in too fast and it was too close to react to to the sudden flames. It crashed in the clearing where they stood. They creature, its feathers aflame, tried to get up, and even managed to get on all fours and spread its legs, trying to fly before a flaming figure ran at it and climbed onto its head. It grabbed grabbed a handful of feathers and began stabbing it with its daggers. The creature screamed as its feathers burned away. It tried to fly away to shake the flaming man off, but he kept with all the ferocity that it attacked with before. The creature faltered for a few seconds in the air for a few seconds before it fell to the ground. It did not get up. The feathers burnt away, The stench of cooked meat filled the air, its wings were burnt to only skeletal bones, the flesh became cooked and torn away.

The Flaming figure pulled away from the corpse and extinguished its flames. The Arisen sheathed his daggers and battered out the flames that stuck to him. The captain looked in awe. He had just lit himself on fire, but he was not burnt at all. His skin was as fair as it was before the battle, his hair was still as it was before. He did not seemed fazed at all by it. His Main Pawn, as loyal as ever, came with his cloak and bow for his master. He fastened the brooch of the cloak around his neck. The captain cleared his throat and said "We will report back to the Capital." The Arisen merely nodded to the wounded knight who was leaning on Haruko. A few knights came to relieve the Pawn of the wounded. "Men, back to the Capital!" The Captain ordered and then they all were off, walking down the incline to the Capitol, as the sun set. The Arisen stood there, as the Pawns picked up parts of the Griffin they could sell. He then did a rare thing.

He smiled.


End file.
